


The Fantastic Four Origin Screenplay

by jayofmo



Category: Fantastic Four, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 06:26:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7673536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jayofmo/pseuds/jayofmo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An attempt at a fairly straightforward but cinematic adaptation of the classic origin of the Fantastic Four.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fantastic Four Origin Screenplay

EXT. APPROACH ROAD - NIGHT  
An old Buick drives up a wooded road to an airforce base.

INT. BUICK - NIGHT  
Driving the car is the handsome REED RICHARDS, no longer a young man, but not exactly old either. Still, the hair near his temples has greyed. Sitting across from him is his girlfriend, the beautiful SUSAN STORM. She’s some years younger than her boyfriend, yet not very young. In the back seat is her younger brother, JOHNNY STORM, a young man in his late teens. Sitting next to him is BEN GRIMM, who is about Reed’s age, but is certainly a guy you’d want on your side in a fight.

JOHNNY  
Geez, Reed, how old is this thing?

BEN  
Older than you, squirt.

SUSAN  
Quiet, you two.

Reed keeps his eyes on the road.

EXT. GATE - NIGHT  
The approach road ends at a Security Gate. A SECURITY GUARD in a booth mans the booth with the device that opens and closes the gate. Reed pulls up to it.

SECURITY GUARD  
Hey there, Mr. Richards.

  
REED  
Hey, just need in.

The security guard activates the gate, opening it.

REED (CONT’D)  
Thanks!

Reed pulls past the gate.

  
EXT. BASE - NIGHT  
There’s a few large buildings around, but the main attraction in the base is the craft that seems to have just been finished. It’s a large, sleek-looking space craft, nearly futuristic in design. Two GUARDS stand in front of it.

INT. BUICK - NIGHT

BEN  
We sure we wanna do this?

REED  
We wait any longer, we’re out of funding, they seize what we’ve done, we’re out of the picture.

BEN  
Yeah, Reed, but we’re sneaking onto a government base to fly a new ship into outer space.

SUSAN  
Reed’s right. We do this now or we’ll never do it at all.

BEN  
Okay, just one thing. I’m the pilot, Reed designed the thing, Suzie’s an engineer, what’s the kid doing here?

JOHNNY  
Watch and learn, Benny-boy.

EXT. BASE - NIGHT  
Johnny gets out of the Buick and strolls to the craft. The two guards eye him.

JOHNNY  
Hey, there!

GUARD #1  
What’s going on, kid?

JOHNNY  
Just checking out what’s going on here.

GUARD #2  
Move along!

JOHNNY  
Sure thing.

He bolts towards the craft. The two guards begin running after him.  Johnny leads them into a building. As soon as they’re inside, Reed, Susan and Ben hurry out of the Buick and to the space craft. Reed stops at the door of the craft and scans his eye.

HERBIE (V.O.)  
Identity confirmed: Reed Richards. Access granted.

The door opens and the three hurry in.

INT. SPACE CRAFT, ENTRY ROOM - NIGHT  
The craft mainly consists of several rooms. This particular one contains several space suits for protection. Ben, Reed and Susan begin putting them on.

BEN  
Can’t believe our luck!

SUSAN  
What about Johnny?

REED  
He’ll be fine, at worst, he’ll be kicked off the base and have to drive the car back, or...

SUSAN  
He could be arrested!

Johnny enters the craft.

JOHNNY  
Or not. I outran them. Guess I’m just that good.

SUSAN  
Johnny! Get back to the car and go home!

Johnny grabs a suit and begins putting it on.

JOHNNY  
Oh, no, sis! I’m not missing this for the world!

REED  
If he gets caught now, we all get caught, he has to come with us.

JOHNNY  
That’s the spirit, Reed!

By this time, they’ve all suited up. They head on to the next room.

INT. SPACE CRAFT, COCKPIT - NIGHT  
There are about six or eight seats that fold back into beds. The four strap themselves in. There is a console in the room lights up as they enter. The craft is controlled by a robot that hovers over the console called “HERBIE.” The robot is small with a pod-like “body” and an LED screen for a “face.” When not performing a task and displaying information, it switches to two round eyes and a jagged line for a mouth.

REED  
HERBIE? Are you active?

HERBIE  
Yes, Doctor Richards.

REED  
Prepare for launch.

Everyone gets seated and begins strapping in.

HERBIE  
Initiating safety diagnostics.

REED  
No time, HERBIE, now!

HERBIE  
Override accepted. Initiating launch sequence.

EXT. BASE - NIGHT  
The guards begin to return to the craft, looking cautiously around for Johnny, when the craft’s engines begin to fire up. They hurry back to the buildings, where presumably, they’ll report what’s going on.

INT. SPACE CRAFT, COCKPIT - NIGHT  
The four brace themselves as the craft begins to launch.

EXT. BASE - NIGHT  
The craft rises into the air. From one of the buildings, one Dr. HARVEY ELDER hurries out to look at the craft and grins.

HARVEY  
Good bye, Richards.

The craft shoots off to the atmosphere.

INT. SPACE CRAFT, COCKPIT - NIGHT  
The astronauts watch as the sky turns into the vastness of outer space.

HERBIE  
Now exiting the atmosphere of earth.

REED  
Great, HERBIE, what’s our speed?

HERBIE  
30,000 miles per hour.

BEN  
I thought you said I’d be piloting this, not this robot thing.

HERBIE  
Would you like me to change to manual controls?

Suddenly, there’s a tapping sound as pin points of light begin piercing the ship and passing through it and the crew.

SUSAN  
What is that?

HERBIE  
Scans show intense cosmic radiation.

JOHNNY  
Reed? Is that bad?

REED  
HERBIE! Activate the shielding!

HERBIE  
Shielding systems failing to initiate.

REED  
WHAT?

BEN  
REED! DID YOU SEND US TO GET KILLED OUT IN SPACE?

REED  
HERBIE, abort! Return to earth!

HERBIE  
Return to atmosphere of Earth, initiating.

The four passengers watch as they begin to return to Earth.

BEN  
(Grunting) Reed, I feel heavy! Can’t move!

Susan screams. All four of the passengers are sweating, but Johnny’s face has the most profusion of sweat.

JOHNNY  
Oh, god, I’m burning up!

The console suddenly explodes near Johnny.

HERBIE  
Systems offline. Goodbye.

The little robot drops to the floor as the fire begins to spread.

REED  
(Whispering) I’m sorry...

Johnny waves his hand to the flames and they seem to be sucked into his hand. He raises it and looks at it in surprise.

BEN  
We’re gonna crash!

EXT. SKY - NIGHT  
The ship re-enters the atmosphere, but it begins to catch fire. Bits of it begin tearing off, with the small pieces bursting into flames and melting away or falling to the ground below.

INT. SPACE CRAFT, COCKPIT - NIGHT  
The four passengers watch helplessly as the ship seems to be falling apart around them.

SUSAN  
No! Not like this!

A transparent bubble suddenly emanates from Sue, surrounding the passengers, their seats, and HERBIE.

EXT. FIELD - DAWN  
Grey streaks of dawn are seen in the sky as the craft crash lands. The exterior of the ship falls apart, leaving the four passengers strapped to their seats in the wreckage. Breathless, they begin sitting up and unstrapping themselves, removing their helmets.

BEN  
How did we... survive?

They stumble away from the wreckage to nearby trees and watch the wreck burn itself out. Susan and Johnny appear to be nearly exhausted.

REED  
I don’t get it.

BEN  
You don’t get it?

REED  
I planned everything to go perfectly. The shielding failed, the thing fell apart like tinfoil. This shouldn’t have happened.

This strikes Ben the wrong way.

BEN  
YOU BET DAMN RIGHT IT SHOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED!

SUSAN  
Ben, calm down.

BEN  
CAN IT, SUZIE!

SUSAN  
Don’t take that tone with me, Ben Grimm!

REED  
Don’t lose your temper, we’re alive after all.

BEN  
I NEARLY DIED, REED! YOU’RE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN?

He begins growing larger as his body becomes covered with thick, rock-like scales. His spacesuit begins to tear off.

REED  
Ben, what’s happening to you?

BEN  
I’M FURIOUS, THAT’S WHAT’S HAPPENING!

The change from Ben to the Thing is complete as Ben’s voice gets deeper and more gravely.

REED  
Ben, look at yourself!

Ben throws a punch at Reed’s chest. Reed’s body stretches back, absorbing the blow, but still getting winded.

BEN  
... Reed? What happened to you?

Reed gasps for breath, but wills his arm to stretch.

BEN (CONT’D)  
You’re like rubber!

SUSAN  
What happened to you, Ben?

Ben looks down at himself and sees his hands, now covered in orange rock. He’s aghast, then feels his face and confirms that his head is also covered in the same scaly substance. Ben braces his fist as if he’s restraining another punch.

BEN  
Reed...

Johnny suddenly collapses to the ground on one knee.

SUSAN  
Johnny!

Johnny rubs his forehead, clinching his eyes shut.

JOHNNY  
Burning...

SUSAN  
Reed! Ben! He’s feverish!

JOHNNY  
No, I’m...

Johnny bursts into flames. He is not burning, though his spacesuit burns off. (Presumably, his clothes were affected by the same mutation.) He is cloaked in flames, and his body begins to lift off the ground.

JOHNNY (CONT’D)  
YAAAAAHHH!!!

Reed, Sue and Ben are gazing in amazement. Johnny tumbles around in the air, until he suddenly steadies himself. Susan vanishes, though we as the audience follow Ben and Reed’s surprise at Johnny.

JOHNNY (CONT’D)  
I... can... fly?

REED  
His body is generating enough heat to keep itself buoyant!

BEN  
Ya could’ve just said yes.

Johnny flies around Ben, Reed and the now invisible Susan.

JOHNNY  
Well, hey, this isn’t so bad. Not like you, Ben!

He flips his arm towards Ben and a fireball shoots at him. Ben narrowly dodges it.

BEN  
Hey! Watch it, buster!

Johnny laughs.

SUSAN (V.O.)  
Can you turn it off?

JOHNNY  
Let me try... Uh... Flame! Off!

The fire surrounding Johnny vanishes and he falls a short but harmless distance to the ground.

JOHNNY (CONT’D)  
See, sis, I’m fine!

He, Reed and Ben look around and realize Susan isn’t around them. They begin looking around for her in a panic, Reed stretching his body to look behind rocks and trees.

JOHNNY (CONT’D)  
Sis?

BEN  
Suzie?

REED  
Sue!

SUSAN (V.O.)  
What’s with you guys? I’m right here.

REED  
I can’t see you!

Susan begins to reappear slowly, face first, then spreading to the rest of her body.

SUSAN  
What do you mean?

All three guys are agape.

JOHNNY  
You were... invisible!

Sue looks down at her left arm. She makes her hand vanish, then slowly works up her arm. She then makes it reappear.

SUSAN  
What’s happened to us?

CUT TO:  
HERBIE lying in the wreck springs back to life. He begins hovering towards the group.

REED  
HERBIE?

HERBIE  
Up and running, Dr. Richards!

REED  
Okay, we’ve changed, all of us! HERBIE was supposed to control the ship, now he’s operating independently of it. Well, we know what we have to do now.

BEN  
Pledge to use these new powers for the good of mankind?

JOHNNY  
Hey, yeah, we’d be superheroes! Everyone would love us!

SUSAN  
I think Reed means we need to find our way home.

REED  
Yeah... And hope we don’t have the government waiting for us.

We pull away from them as HERBIE’s display begins flashing.

HERBIE  
Detecting location...

CUT TO:  
TITLE CARD:  
THE FANTASTIC FOUR

**Author's Note:**

> Sometime back, a friend said I should write a Fantastic Four screenplay. That would require some time (as it wouldn't be the first screenplay I've written), and as I don't have the rights to make a Fantastic Four film or the means to produce a fan film, what would be the point?
> 
> But, yesterday I got an idea for it and decided I'd write a quick, short script covering the origin. Something Marvel could do as a short film or something. (Um, I know this isn't legal, but if Marvel produces ANYTHING like this, I promise I won't sue. What leg would I have to stand on?)
> 
> I decided to add HERBIE the robot as a tribute to the 1978 animated series, and as a way to simplify how the ship would work.
> 
> Dr. Harvey Elder is, of course, the Mole Man, and if this take on their story went any further, it would be clarified that he sabotaged the ship. It's still Reed's fault for not letting HERBIE run the diagnostics, but presumably, things would've gone fine if Harvey hadn't screwed things up. Also, the ship was Reed's test design for faster, sleeker space craft.
> 
> And yes, this is more or less the classic origin. It's just that instead of the space race, it's an experimental craft to take space travel further ahead.


End file.
